


Action is Character

by emeraldwitch



Category: Torchwood
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-12
Updated: 2012-12-12
Packaged: 2017-11-20 23:24:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/590854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeraldwitch/pseuds/emeraldwitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rhys has been the most important person in Gwen’s life since college… or he was until Torchwood. (Written for prompt: "realign")</p>
            </blockquote>





	Action is Character

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 2x04, 2x05, and 2x09.

 

Rhys Williams did not believe in aliens. When faced with the possibility of an alien encounter, he resolutely saw it as something — anything — but alien. Terrorists put something in Cardiff’s water supply. Surely that was a more likely happening, he convinced himself.  


“Your boyfriend is stupid,” Harkness had said. His voice held a sort of mocking amusement. Rhys did not appreciate it. In fact, he decided in that moment that he did not appreciate Jack Harkness.

Gwen had replied with something along the lines of “so you’ve met?” and that had stung; but eventually Rhys got over it. He always assumed Gwen thought she was smarter. Police Constable Cooper, obviously a bit higher on the intelligence ladder than Rhys Williams. It didn’t take a lot of brains to organise a fleet of trucks.

He got the feeling that they’d had this conversation more than once, the one about him being too thick to understand the “very important work” they did. This, more than anything, irritated him. He would barely know Jack Harkness if he tripped over him, drunk in a back alley; and here the man was making fun of him. Rhys would later realise that his problem was deeper than that; but all the same, he very decidedly did not like Jack Harkness.

•••

Rhys Williams did not believe in aliens. He reminded himself of this every time Gwen came home and tried to explain to him why she was covered in gore. He did not believe in aliens, but he did believe that her new job was putting her in danger.

This did nothing to help his opinion of Jack Harkness, a man who was responsible for this danger, or at least did nothing to stop it.

•••

Gwen Cooper believed in aliens because she’d seen them with her own eyes, and she’d scrubbed their blood from nearly all of her favourite tops. Rhys Williams did not believe in aliens; but he did believe in Gwen. Because of this he was willing to at least give Jack Harkness the opportunity to explain what an alien had to do with his wrecked truck. He made it clear, however, that he still did not like Jack. He simply thought he might be helpful, for once.

“Jack sends his love,” Gwen had told him when she stepped off the lift. He didn’t respond because he didn’t want to offend her. Rhys Williams had seen an alien; and he supposed he had no choice now but to believe in it. Believing in aliens did not, however help his opinion of Jack Harkness.

•••

Rhys Williams was having some trouble believing that  he was standing in his own bloody flat, in a bathrobe, at gunpoint,  waiting for Jack Harkness to come tell Gwen that he did indeed live there, and that they were in fact engaged. 

He could tell that Gwen still didn't quite believe what Jack was telling her, but she left with their other teammate. Once she'd gone, Jack had promised he'd find out what went wrong and put it right. Rhys had no choice to believe him; but somewhere in the back of his mind, he'd still believed Jack was to blame.

 

Jack had suggested they film a sort of video diary, as it would be less threatening for Gwen to see it on film and not have to discuss it. Rhys hadn't seen where he had much of a choice in the matter. They talked about how he'd met Gwen in college, and how she'd first kissed him in the supermarket queue. Jack had remained mostly expressionless, until Rhys said "I'm gonna marry this bloody mad woman even if it kills me." Rhys hadn't seen it, but Jack had smiled to himself.

•••

Rhys Williams may have believed in aliens; and he may have believed in his fiancée; but he simply did not accept that one of their wedding guests was an alien. He should have, he would later realise, considering that his wife-to-be was pregnant. She had become pregnant overnight with an alien child. Why then couldn’t the alien mother be at their wedding?

He should have known Jack was there to set things right once again when he barged in during the ceremony; but all Rhys had seen was that stupid American in his bloody military coat, followed closely by the red haze of anger.

•••

By the end of the night he had forgiven Jack Harkness completely because by then Captain Jack had saved the lives of each and every one of their wedding guests; and most importantly he had saved Gwen’s life. Rhys settled into one of the wooden chairs in the reception area with a sigh and felt no jealousy as he watched his new wife dance with her boss.

•••

They walk together to the car at the close of the reception; Jack and Ianto seeing them off with the promise to clean up the alien mess before morning. Rhys helps Gwen into the limousine before turning to speak with her colleagues. He thanks them both for coming to the wedding, and shakes Ianto’s hand. He attempts the same with Jack but is pulled into a one-armed hug instead. “Thank you,” Rhys says again, despite himself. “For keeping her safe.”

 


End file.
